Process and apparatus for space-dyeing of polyester or polyamide fibres or threads

ABSTRACT

D R A W I N G PROCESS FOR THE SPACE-DYEING OF WOUND-UP POLYESTER OR POLYAMIDE FIBERS OR THREADS BY INJECTION INTO THE BOBBINS, BEING LOCATED ON HEATED TRANSPORTING EQUIPMENT, DISPERSE DYESTUFFS AND/OR ORGANIC PIGMENT DYESTUFFS OR DISPERSED IN AN ORGANIC SOLVENT, AT A TEMPERATURE OF FROM 160* TO 230*C., AND SUBSEQUENTLY ALLOWING THE DYESTUFFS TO TAKE EFFECT UPON THE TEXTILE MATERIAL AT THE SAID TEMPERATURE DURING 15 TO 180 SECONDS TO ACHIEVE FIXATION, AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT SAID PROCESS.

HANS-ULRICH VON DER ELTZ ETAL PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SPACE Apr1l3,,1973 3,7 4,997

DYEING OF POLYAMID OR POLYMIDE FIBRES OR THREADS Filed Feb. 10, 1970 INVENTORS HANS ULRICH VON DER ELTZ RICHARD GROSS BY MM r ATTORNEYS United States Patent ice 3,724,997 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SPACE-DYEING 0F POLYESTER 0R POLYAMIDE FIBRES OR THREADS Hans-Ulrich von der Eltz, Frankfurt am Main, and

Richard Gross, Munich, Germany, assignors to Farbwerke Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft vormals Meister Lucius & Bruning, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed Feb. 10, 1970, Ser. No. 9,680

Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 12, 1969,

P 19 06 840.7 Int. Cl. D06p /00 US. Cl. 814 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Process for the space-dyeing of wound-up polyester or polyamide fibres or threads by injection into the bobbins, being located on heated transporting equipment, disperse dyestuffs and/or organic pigment dyestuffs dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent, at a temperature of from 160 to 230 C., and subsequently allowing the dyestuffs to take effect upon the textile material at the said temperature during 15 to 180 seconds to achieve fixation, and apparatus for carrying out said process.

The present invention is concerned with a process and apparatus for space-dyeing polyester or polyamide fibres or threads.

US. Pat. No. 3,120,422 discloses a process according to which wound-up cellulosic yarn can be dyed multicoloured shades by injection of aqueous solutions of reactive dyestuffs in such a manner that, after the yarns thus dyed have been woven or knitted, no repeat of pattern occurs on the finished textile material. For the applicability of said procedure, in practice denoted as space-dyeing, it is essential that the injected dyestuff solutions are dispersed evenly and as extensively as possible in the bobbin. Due to the fact that among others, the fixation of the applied reactive dyestuffs by allowing the material to dwell at room temperature, is very time-consuming, the method described above permits a low production rate only.

Moreover, it is known that textiles made from polyester or polyamide fibres or threads can be dyed with disperse dyestuffs by applying onto the synthetic fiberous materials mentioned aqueous dispersions of said dyestuffs and, subsequent fixation of the dyestuffs on the substrate under pressure by the action of hot air or steam. However, in dyeing wound-up polyester or polyamide fibres or threads according to the so-called space-dyeing method, it appeared that the injected aqueous dyestuff dispersions do not disperse evenly in the wound package. Furthermore, the measures necessary for fixing the dyestuffs have to be carried out in a separate apparatus, so that the production rate in the proposed method is far from being satisfactory.

Now, it has been found that a, practically, continuous process for the space-dyeing of polyester of polyamide fibres or threads by injection of disperse dyestuffs and/ or organic pigment dyestuffs and fixation of the dyestuffs at an elevated temperature can be achieved coupled with a very even dyestuff distribution on the material and a high production rate, by injecting into the bobbins, being located on a heated transporting equipment, for example a conveyor belt, if desired at several selected portions of the wound package, the dyestuffs dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent, at a temperature of from 160 to 230 C., and subsequently allowing the dyestulf to take effect upon the textile material at the said temperature during 15 to 180, preferably 30 to 90 seconds, to achieve.

fixation. According to this procedure, for higher temperatures shorter fixation periods and vice versa are required.

Patented Apr. 3, 1973 The speed and the length of the conveyor belt, respectively, depend on the individual dwelling time.

The apparatus designed for carrying out the process of the present invention essentially consists of an injection mechanism 1 for transferring the dyeing liquor into the wound package 2 of fibres or threads and of at least one supporting element 3 for receiving the wound-up material While the injection mechanism is installed in a fixed position, the bobbin supports 3 are mounted on transporting equipment, for example an endless conveyor belt 4 which can be put into motion by a motor and which, in operation of the device, is passed through an extended, heatable tunnel 5 having inlet and outlet openings for the goods at the two ends only. For ensurance of the necessary fixation temperatures, on the ceiling and, optionally, the lateral faces inside of the tunnel suitable heating arrangements 6 are installed, e.g. infrared radiators or high-frequency driers, or the tunnel is connected with feed pipes for hot air or hot steam. The heating units in the shaft must be spaced such that the radiated heat may penetrate the goods uniformly from all sides. In addition, the apparatus is equipped with suitable control elements effecting standstill of the conveyor belt during the injection of the dyeing liquor. The injection mechanism contains as the most essential element a hollow injection needle which has a perforated shaft (for more details see Astrodyed Technical Manual, Astro Dye Works, Inc., Calhoun, Ga. 30703/'USA, page 12, FIG. 14). The length of the needle approximately corresponds to the thickness of the wound package to be treated. By means of a mechanical impulse, triggered off by the switching of contact pairs residing in the control elements described hereinabove, the position of the injection needle supporter is rearranged such that the point of the infeed needle can penetrate the package from the outside yarn layer until to a desired site inwards to the core of the bobbin, whereupon the effusion of the dyeing liquor may set in. The flow of the liquor is stopped again by a reversed motion of the needle support. If desired, the apparatus described may comprise several injection units being suitably described in the interior of the heating tunnel. An apparatus according to the present in vention is illustrated by way of an example in the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which shows the apparatus in a diagrammatic vertical section.

While operating With the apparatus of the invention the bobbins are placed on a running conveyor belt which, in order to prevent a loss in temperature, passes through a tunnel wherein the required temperatures are produced. When the wound-up textile material has reached the injection position, the conveyor belt is caused to stop by means of a contact, for example, a mechanical or optical contact, and the hot dyeing liquor is injected. After, the injection mechanism has lifted, the conveyor belt is again put into motion by means of a mechanical contact.

According to the measures for carrying out the process of the invention the hot dyeing liquor is injected under pressure into the preheated package, at least one selected portion of the wound material. Thereby, the dyestuff solu tion or dispersion spreads out limited along the injection zone, so that along the yarn of the wound package dyed and undyed areas of varying lengths are produced oc curring at quite irregular intervals. The amount of dyestuff injected may, of course, be varied. It depends on the desired ratio of dyed and undyed yarn. The injection of the dyeing liquor at several locations may be provided separately or simultaneously, for achieving a definite nonrepeating pattern. The injection positions must, of course, be selected in a suitable manner. It is also possible, in order to produce a multi-color spotted yarn according to the invention, to press dyeing liquors of a different shade side by side into the package, either separately in an alternated sequence or simultaneously.

As solvents or dispersants for the dyestuffs there may be used in the instant process oxalkylation products of aliphatic, alkylated aromatic, aromatic or cycloaliphatic compounds containing at least one free hydroxy group in a terminal position. Suitable compounds of said type are the oxalkylation products of fatty acids, fatty acid amides, fatty amines, fatty alcohols and alkylated phenols. The polyether chains in these compounds are, in general, composed of ethylene oxide units, but also products containing chain links consisting of higher oxalkyl compounds, such as propylene oxide or butylene oxide, or mixtures of the cited alkylene oxides have proved as suitable. Furthermore, also polyglycol ethers, more especially, polyethylene glycols, having an average molecular weight of from 100 to 2000, preferably of from 200 to 1500, are particularly interesting in view of their use as treating media for the dyestuffs according to the present invention. Of course, said substances have to be liquid under the process conditions and they must not decompose at the given treatment temperature.

From the series of oxalkylation products of said type for example the following may be named:

Pentaethylene glycol, hexaethylene glycol, nonyl phenols containing 4 to 20, preferably 6 to 10 ethylene oxide groupings, moreover fatty acids, fatty acid amides, fatty amines and fatty alcohols having from 10 to 18 carbon atoms in the form of hydrophobic chains and an oxyethylation degree corresponding to 2 to 30, preferably 4 to 15 mols of ethylene oxide. It is also possible without difliculty to use mixtures of said solvents.

During the production of dyeings according to the method described, the dyestuff is partly dissolved by the hot solvents, but another portion, differing dependent on the dyestuff used, remains dispersed. However, it cannot be indicated whether the dissolved or the dispersed dyestutf is primarily absorbed by the fibre. The pH value of the dyebath should, as far as possible, be kept below 7, advantageously between 5 and 6.

The disperse dyestuffs to be used according to the present process are sufficiently known. In general, they belong to the series of water-insoluble azo, anthraquinone, and phthalocyanine dyestuffs. Examples of the types of such disperse dyestuffs are described in Colour Index, 2nd edition (1956) under the following C.I. numbers: 11100- 11250, 11365-11660, 12700-12795, 26000-26150, 60505- 60755, 61100-61545 and 62015-64505. However, it is possible as well to use in the process organic pigment dyestuffs that are yet unfinished. Since finishing of disperse dyestuffs is just a difiicult measure and, in most cases, a very expensive one, the possibility of direct application of unfinished products is a further substantial advantage of the process of the invention.

Still another advantage of new process resides in that the solvents employed may generally provide the function of a detergent, so that in subsequent soaping of the dyeings no separate detergent need be added.

The following examples serve to illustrate the invention. The parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise stated.

EXAMPLE 1 800 g. of a wound-up polyester fibre yarn were placed on a conveyor belt situated in an infrared tunnel preheated to 190 C., said belt moving through the apparatus at a rate of 1.5 m./min. After seconds, the yarn had adopted the corresponding apparatus temperature and reached the position of injection, at which moment the conveyor belt was stopped by means of an optical contact and the dissolved or dispersed dyestuff injected into the yarn package with the aid of an injection needle. Then, the conveyor belt was again put into motion by means of a mechanical contact (released by the retrograde motion of the injection needle support) and the package was allowed to dwell for 30 seconds on the heated conveyor belt.

The afore-said used dyeing liquor, 200 ml. of which were injected into the package, contained per litre of a reaction product of 1 mol of nonyl phenol with 10 mols of ethylene oxide, 40 g. of the dyestuff (German Pat. No. 1,029,506) of the formula finally dried. Thus, a bobbin was obtained wherein about one third of the yarn was dyed a deep blue shade,

EXAMPLE 2 Using the apparatus described in Example 1, 200 ml. of a dyestuff dispersion having a temperature of C. and containing per litre of a reaction product of 1 mol of stearyl alcohol with 5 mols of ethylene oxide, 30 g. of the dyestuff of the formula in commercial form and quality, were injected into a wound package of yarn of polyester threads pre-heated to 170 C. Subsequently, the bobbin was allowed to dwell for two minutes at the said temperature, whereupon it was treated as described in Example 1. A bobbin was obtained in which about one-third of the yarn was dyed a brilliant red shade.

EXAMPLE 3 According to the indications in Example 1, 200 ml. each of the following three dyeing liquors were injected into 800 g. of a wound-up polyester fibre yarn.

(a) a dispersion containing per litre of a reaction product of 1 mol of nonyl phenol with 10 mols of ethylene oxide, 20 g. of the dyestuff (German Pat. No. 1,049,- 821) of the formula in commercial form and quality, and having a temperature of 200 C.;

(b) a dispersion containing per litre of a polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of about 600, 20 g. of the dyestuff of the formula in commercial form and quality, and having ture of 200 C.;

a temperaa dispersion containing per litre of a reaction product of 1 mol of stearyl amine with mole of ethylene oxide, 40 g. of the dyestutf (German Pat. No. 1,162,961) of the formula NHX NH-CHzOH in commercial form and quality, which dispersion had been heated to 200 C.

After these three dyestuff dispersions had been injected into the bobbin, pre-heated-to 200 C. and the bobbin allowed to dwell for 60 seconds at that temperature, the after-treatment was etfected as in Example 1 by rinsing and soaping. After drying, a bobbin was obtained containing about one-third each of yellow, brilliant red and dark blue-dyed yarn.

EXAMPLE 4 Using a dyeing apparatus as in Example 1, 200 ml. of a dyestuif dispersion having a temperature of 210 C. and containing per litre of the solvent specified in Example 3c, g. of the pigment dyestuff (Color Index No. 21110) of the formula CH3 N N Q Q N N CH3 N l I N 1 no on b1 0 When in place of the above dyestuff (German Pat. No. 1,269,587), g. of the dyestutf of formula were used for the dyeing, a bobbin was obtained, about one-third of the yarn of which was dyed a clear blue shade.

EXAMPLE 5 When for dyeing the wound-up package under the conditions stated in Example 1, 20 g. of the compound (Color Index No. 73300) of the formula were used as the dyestutf, a bobbin was obtained in which about one-third of the yarn was dyed a clear red shade.

EXAMPLE 6 In an analogous manner as disclosed in Example 1, 200 ml. of a dyestuff dispersion containing per litre of the solvent indicated in Example 3b, 20 g. of the pigment dyestufi (Color Index No. 51319) of the formula CzHs and having a temperature of 200 C. were injected into 800 g. of a wound-up polyester fibre yarn pre-heated to the same temperature. After the goods had been allowed to dwell for one minute at 200 C. and had been aftertreated, a bobbin was obtained wherein about one-third of the yarn showed a violet shade.

EXAMPLE 7 200 ml. of a dyestuff dispersion having a temperature of 190 C. and containing per litre of a polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of about 200, 20 g. of the dyestulf of the formula CH CH3 were injected, according to the prescription in Example 1, into 800 g. of a wound-up polyester fibre yarn, after the yarn package had been pre-heated to 190 C. After the fabric had been allowed to dwell for 30 seconds at that temperature and, subsequently, after-treated, a bobbin was obtained wherein about one third of the yarn was dyed a deep blue shade.

We claim:

1. In a process for the space-dyeing of a wound-up package of polyester or polyamide fibers or threads by pressure injection of a dyestuif into said package and by fixation of said dyestutf at above ambient temperature, the improvement which comprises: pre-heating a woundup package of polyester or polyamide fibers or threads to at least about 160 C.; needle injecting into said woundup package a dyeing liquor at a temperature of about 160 to 230 C., said dyeing liquor consisting essentially of a disperse dyestuff, an organic pigment dyestuif or a combination thereof for said polyester or polyamide fibers or threads dispersed or dissolved in an essentially anhydrous organic solvent selected from the group consisting of an oxalkylation product that is a condensate of lower alkylene oxide and fatty acid, fatty acid amide, fatty amine, fatty alcohol or alkylated phenol, said oxalkylation product having at least two lower alkylene oxide units per units of condensate, and poly(lower alkylene oxide) glycol of molecular weight about to about 2000; and thereafter maintaining said package at a temperature of about to about 230 C. for about 15 to about 180 seconds to fix said dyestuif on said fibers or threads.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein said lower alkylene oxide is ethylene oxide, propylene oxide or butylene oxide, and said p0ly(lower alkylene oxide) glycol is polyethylene glycol.

3. A process according to claim 1 wherein said lower alkylene oxide is ethylene oxide, said oxalkylation product has about 2 to about 30 ethylene oxide units per unit of condensate, and said poly(lower alkylene oxide) glycol is polyethylene glycol of molecular weight of about 200 to about 1500.

4. A process according to claim 1 wherein said solvent is pentaethylene glycol, hexaethylene glycol, a condensate of nonyl phenol with about 4 to about 20 units of ethylene oxide, or a condensate of a fatty acid, fatty acid amide, fatty amine or fatty alcohol having about 10 to about 18 carbon atoms in the form of a hydrophobic chain with about 2 to about 30 units of ethylene oxide.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1921 Sykora 8-14 12/1929 Whitehead 8-162 9/ 1939 Moncrief et al 8-40 12/1928 Clavel 8-14 4/1940 Williams 8-140 XA 2/1964 Weir 8-149 XA 12/1970 Theodores 68-5 R 8/ 1966 Luetzel 8-84 8/1970 Nador 8-93 XA DONALD LEVY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

